Energy - Stade LNG terminal ready: gas will not flow until February
The ceremony to mark the completion of the floating terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Stade took place in proper style on the water: On board the MS Helgoland, which floated in the Elbe off Stade, the facility was symbolically handed over to the operators on Saturday. It took almost eleven months to build the jetty. The state-owned port operator Niedersachsen Ports invested 300 million euros in the facility, as the company announced on Saturday.
"The new jetty is an important building block not only for securing the energy supply in Germany, but also in terms of climate protection and the energy transition," said Lower Saxony's Energy Minister Christian Meyer (Greens) at the ceremony on the water. Economics Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) said, referring to the construction time of just 330 days: "We are showing that we can deliver - and continue to do so at the proverbial new German speed."
However, it will still take some time before the plant goes into operation. The landside infrastructure to connect the terminal is not yet completely finished, said a spokesperson for the federally owned operating company Deutsche Energy Terminal. The special ship "Transgas Force" will now be chartered out as an LNG tanker for the time being until probably February following a stay at the shipyard.
The terminal in Stade will then go into operation in the second half of February, reported the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung", citing the operating company. Another terminal in Wilhelmshaven is due to follow in the second quarter, i.e. between April and June. A first LNG terminal has already been in operation there for a year.
According to Niedersachsen Port, the new facility in Stade will handle around 50 LNG tankers per year in future. Five billion cubic meters of natural gas will then be handled there each year - which most recently corresponded to around six percent of German gas consumption. LNG is deep-frozen under pressure, transported in liquid form by ship, then landed on a special ship, a so-called Floating Storage and Regasification Unit, heated, regasified and then fed into the gas grid.
In response to Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, the German government announced in February 2022 that it would build several LNG terminals in Germany, including in Brunsbüttel in Schleswig-Holstein and in Lubmin in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The liquefied natural gas imports are intended to help close the supply gap caused by the lack of Russian gas supplies. In July 2022, the decision was made that Stade would also become a site for a floating terminal.
NOZ report
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- The completion of the Stade LNG terminal, a crucial component for Germany's energy security and climate protection during the energy transition, was celebrated with fanfare.
- Lower Saxony's Energy Minister, Christian Meyer, emphasized the importance of the facility in securing energy supply and reducing carbon emissions.
- Despite the terminal's near completion, Olaf Lies, Economics Minister, acknowledged that some landside infrastructure needs further development before operation begins.
- In the meantime, a specialized LNG tanker named "Transgas Force" will replace the Stade terminal, covering the gap until mid-February when the facility is predicted to start working.
- Germany's decision to establish multiple LNG terminals, including one in Stade, was made in response to Russia's aggression in Ukraine with the aim of supplementing the reduced gas supply from Russian sources.
- The new LNG terminal in Stade is expected to handle approximately 50 LNG tankers annually, contributing around six percent to Germany's total natural gas consumption, as indicated by Niedersachsen Port.
Source: www.stern.de
